Blood Relation
Short story by Rhea Gangavkar: ‘I looked at the hospital’s main gate; how many people were here for the same thing? I looked at Megha. She was staring at the sky as she softly whispered, “It might rain.’”
It Thrives in Winter
Short story by Ushma Shah: ‘There was a pale, mouldy smell around him, and then, Abhi smelled himself. He had a stench, too, mouldy, and woody, and old.’
A Study in Pink
Short story by Sachin Ravikumar: ‘The pink tabebuia is a picture of quiet grace. It does not impose. Its presence is a welcome respite from a noisy, polluted city perennially draped in tones grey or garish… Was this tree really from here? Were we still in Bangalore?’
Excerpt: THE STORY OF JONAH STONE by Amrit
Fiction: “And then whaddayaknow, they did, and here I am, sitting nonchalantly on a park bench on a Wednesday afternoon, half a free man.”
The Secret Lives of Goan Boys
Short story by Michelle D’costa: ‘A man had overdosed that day. Jude remembers the tattoo on the OD guy’s bicep: A dragon spitting fire which held three symbols, Om, a cross, and a star cradled in a crescent moon.’
Sightseeing
Short story by Asha Jyothi: ‘I don’t know what in the world I was thinking, but I look directly at him, and he holds my gaze, and looks at my naked teeth. “Pyar kiya, koi chori nahi ki.” I have loved, not committed a theft.’
Like Sullied Water
Short story by Mehreen Ahmed: ‘As soon as she stepped out of the cubicle, the ‘ghost’ disappeared. Perhaps, it was an optical illusion. Like a rainbow where people saw only the colours, not the water particles behind the veil.’
The Greater Good
Short story by Ramya Srinivasan: ‘AX09 reminded Otto of all things that he hated about the job. All that craving for power had ultimately led to complete powerlessness. The lack of free will. The helplessness of being a puppet in someone else’s hands.’
Niagara, O roar again!
Short story by Nandan: ‘“There is no point in all that,” Shankaran lazily shrugged his shoulders, “Anyway, what’s there in a waterfall?’
And If The Rains Don’t Stop
Short story by Chitra Gopalakrishnan: ‘The river always makes a mockery of these predictions, bursting its banks when least expected, and changing course as it wills, when it wills. The only certainty is its uncertainty.’
Favourite Horror Story
Flash fiction by Karan Madhok: ‘Kunal imagines Yashaswi Sir running in the dark, back towards the bus, through the grass and the weeds and the shrubs. Over snakes and rabbits and frogs. Away from the light, seeing nothing, vacuum only making way for more vacuum.’
True Lies in the Heartlands: Chandan Pandey’s LEGAL FICTION
Much of the novel Legal Fiction is about the facts only understood as fiction, and the fictions that should never interfere with facts. Chandan Pandey’s story shines in the uncomfortable confluence of the real and imagined in a dangerous New India. By Karan Madhok